Disney had grown its share through its $71.3-billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox's movie and TV studios, which closed in March, and its $1.43-billion deal for the 9.5% share that AT&T owned. AT&T got that in its own media merger last year, an $85-billion deal for Time Warner.

That left Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, as the only remaining non-Disney Hulu stakeholder, holding one-third. (Comcast/NBCUniversal, Disney, Fox and Time Warner were early Hulu investors.)